Foray into Custom Nail Polish Colors

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I have some water slide nail decals that I'm looking forward to trying, but I was at a loss for colors to pair them with. Some of the decals I purchased have very subtle colors in them, especially pastel yellows and greens. I looked online and in stores, but couldn't find colors that were pale and unsaturated to the extent I wanted. And so, I decided to dip my toe into the world of making my own custom nail polish colors!

First, I wanted to stick within the same brand so I could be reasonably certain that the chemical formulas would be compatible. I also wanted to go with a brand I've used before, and know will give me the kind of results I like. I therefore went with Nanacoco, which has very nice solid, opaque colors. I chose two bottles of flat white (Cotton Candy Clouds), the palest yellow I could find (I Am Cute), and a soft green with as little blue as possible without straying too far into the yellow-ish green territory (Prague Melody).

Both the green and yellow were somewhat unmixed when I took them off the shelf, and therefore quite a bit lighter at the bottom than at the top. I spent several minutes pounding them against my hand before purchasing to make sure they'd still be in the color range I was looking for. As you can see below, they're still not entirely mixed. I'm not sure how long they were sitting in the store before I bought them, but I am guessing it was a long time!

I bought several empty nail polish bottles.. but they come with very cheap brushes. So I knew I'd want to transfer over the Nanacoco brushes if possible. Luckily I went through so much of the white that this wasn't a problem. I'm glad I bought two bottles of white!

I started with an empty bottle, and poured in some of the Nanacoco I Am Cute (yellow). Then I poured in some white (Cotton Candy Clouds), and alternated back and forth between the two. I stopped adding yellow fairly early on, knowing that I wanted a very pale final color. So most of the contents is white, with only a little yellow to tint it. I then used the cap & brush from the first bottle of white to close the bottle and mix thoroughly. I added a bit more of both colors to to top off the bottle and get the color to just the right shade.

I then used the now-nearly-empty bottle of white for my next color: pale green. I poured in some of the Prague Melody, screwed on the cheap top/brush, and mixed. I then added more green and a lot more white (from the second bottle). I ended up pouring in just a bit of the yellow too, to bring the green further into the yellow range.

The second image below shows some of the decals I hope to pair these colors with. As you can see, they're very pale and unsaturated, and would be overwhelmed by brighter colors. (I plan on using the full-cover decals on only 2-3 nails per hand, allowing me to put stamped designs on the other nails.)

I'm really pleased with how both of these colors turned out! The white blended very easily with the other colors, and I was able to create exactly the shade I wanted. I'll definitely try this again, next time I come up with a color I can't seem to find in stores.

ColorMix1 by kwsapphire  Waterslide-Pale by kwsapphire
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